Donald Trump has, for around the fourth or possibly fifth time this week, claimed victory in Iran. Given that the war he started is still obviously ongoing and Iran is notably still not defeated, this is… let’s go with “curious”.
Trump is currently insisting that he and his administration are deep into complex negotiations with Iran, teased that they are “ready to make a deal”, and said that he’d managed to get them to agree “they will never have a nuclear weapon”.
All of this is news to Iran, who have no idea who Trump is even negotiating with right now. Whoever it is, it’s certainly not them. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, a spokesperson for the joint command of the Iranian armed forces, openly mocked Trump’s claims, accusing him of “negotiating with yourselves” as part of insane “inner conflicts”.
Iran has mocked Donald Trump's claims that the U.S. has engaged in peace talks with Tehran.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 25, 2026
A spokesperson for the Iranian military said in a pre-recorded statement that the U.S. president is trying to "dress up your defeat as an agreement"
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“The one claiming to be a global superpower would have gotten out of this mess if it could. Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement. Your era of promises has come to an end. Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”
The Iranian assessment that Trump is in way over his head and is desperate to find an offramp for this war seems accurate. All indications are that Trump is having a serious case of buyer’s remorse after this conflict wasn’t over in a few short hours like in Venezuela.
No exit for Trump
With American boots on the ground apparently imminent and a bloody battle about to commence to seize Kharg Island, Trump must feel like he’s trapped in quicksand. The harder he struggles to get out, the deeper he sinks. Meanwhile, Iran is defiant and sounds determined not to go down without a fight:
We state this clearly. Until it is our will, nothing will go back to the way it was. That will only come about when the very thought of acting against the Iranian nation is completely wiped from your corrupt minds.
They’re playing a dangerous game. Iran knows full well that the United States (and Israel) have an overwhelming military advantage over it. On paper, Trump has the troops, the equipment, and the arms to utterly destroy Iran.
In practise? Trump simply doesn’t have the political room to use them, and a mass deployment of US troops into Iran to force regime change would be a disaster for his presidency.
Iran can see that Trump is desperately searching for an off-ramp to this war that’ll let him save face and claim some sort of victory. But, as anyone with a brain can tell, a future in which Iran continues to be ruled by the same regime (who now hate America more than ever) is one in which Trump has walked away a loser.
Where he goes next is anyone’s guess, but the coming week should be make-or-break for Trump over Iran as he desperately tries to salvage this foreign policy debacle.
Published: Mar 25, 2026 08:07 am